


Enter the NurseyDex-Verse

by Denois



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universes, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Minor and background other characters, Minor canon divergence, Mistaken Identity, Mutual Pining, breaking physics, idiots to lovers, just to be safe really, rated M for kidnapping and violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:35:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23525482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Denois/pseuds/Denois
Summary: Someone had a foolproof plan to make some money: Kidnap Derek Nurse and collect the ransom from his rich father.This plan backfires when they end up with Dex instead and now Dex has to keep them convinced that he's Nursey while Nursey tries figure out how to rescue Dex.With the help of Tango, a little bit of physics breaking, and some extra Nursey and Dex power, can these two mutually pining idiots reunite? Will they stop being oblivious long enough to actually confess their feelings?
Relationships: Derek "Nursey" Nurse/William "Dex" Poindexter
Comments: 24
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was the second place on my poll for what should my 100th fic be, so it is my 100th OMGCP fic. 
> 
> Many thanks are needed for [Draskireis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/draskireis) who helped me work out the initial concept and also helped me get an outline poked into place. 
> 
> Not sure what kind of update schedule I'll have for this because of work, reverse bang, FTH, etc. but, this is going to happen, y'all.

The week started well enough. It proceeded well enough. Sharing a room with Nursey wasn’t terrible. Classes were more difficult, but he’d make it work. At least he was getting to more of the ones he was really interested in. Even morning practice wasn’t too terrible. As expected, he and Nursey clicked on the ice, like they had been for a couple of years. 

Then practice ended. A cold front had moved through during the night, not enough to justify breaking out his winter coat yet, but he’d like a bit more than a flannel. Especially since his fellow Frogs seemed to never consider how cold it was when these things happened and he always ended up giving them at least one of his layers. He had to start with extra.

He didn’t mean to be the last one out of the dressing room. He hadn’t taken longer in the showers than anyone else. He had stopped to talk to the Waffles and make sure they were settling into the team, sure. He had stopped to answer some of Tango’s questions. He had talked to Ford briefly. And, sure, he had also stopped to pick up all the nasty, dirty practice gear that the team had merely lobbed in the direction of the hamper bin instead of actually making sure everything was where it should be. But it wasn’t fair to the staff to make them pick everything up off the ground. The team was lucky that the university provided laundry service for their practice gear, they shouldn’t take it for granted by treating the workers like shit. 

By the time he’d finished all of those things and gotten dressed, everyone else had left. And his Samwell roadie jacket was missing. He’d left it on the bench of his stall, near the side where Nursey’s stall was. Near where a Samwell roadie jacket was laying. But the jacket that was still there had “Nurse” emblazoned across the back instead of “Poindexter”. 

Dex bit his lip. Wearing Nursey’s jacket was an appealing idea. But taking his crush’s clothes, worse, his roommate’s clothes, without permission, seemed like crossing a boundary. On the other hand, if he saw Nursey, Nursey would probably be cold and want his jacket anyway. Plus, he was fairly certain that he remembered seeing Nursey leaving in a Samwell jacket, which meant that Nursey had probably grabbed his jacket by mistake in the first place. 

In the end, he wore the jacket.

* * *

The first time Dex was kidnapped, Ransom and Holster had pulled a black bag over his head while he was studying in Founders and then dragged him out, kicking and screaming. He’d ended up stripped to his boxer briefs, plied with alcohol, and kneeling on the cold ice at Faber beside Jack, Nursey, and Chowder while the rest of the team looked on. 

Overall, he supposed the second time he was kidnapped was more pleasant.

First, he hadn’t had his head covered with a bag, or if he had, he hadn’t been conscious for it. Instead, he’d walked out of Faber and headed towards class. Almost immediately after passing some workers on the sidewalk, he’d felt a sharp stabbing pain on his arm, and then nothing. 

Second, he’d woken up fully clothed in a fairly nice room, all things considered. If he had to be kidnapped, not ending up in his underwear was preferable, as was not ending up kneeling on a sheet of ice. He wasn’t tied to the bed or anything, but when he tried to open the door it was locked. He jiggled the handle and kicked the door to see if it would budge. It didn’t.

A small slot opened, barely enough to see through. 

“Calm down, Mr. Nurse. Once your dad pays the ransom, you’ll be free to go.”

The slot closed.

Dex blinked at it before backing over to the single chair in the room and collapsing. They thought he was Nursey. They thought someone would pay for his safe return. 

This was followed in very quick succession by two additional thoughts.

One, when they realized he wasn’t Nursey or when the ransom wasn’t paid, they would hurt or kill him.

Two, which was far more concerning, if they realized he wasn’t Nursey, they’d try again and might actually get him.


	2. Chapter 2

It was weird to not see Dex at some point during the day. Like, sure, they didn’t have any classes together, but Nursey thought Dex must have left his writing requirements until this term or something because he usually turned up at least once a day. Usually, he had coffee, or boba, or some kind of food that he grabbed from a food truck or one of the places on campus. 

Nursey just hadn’t realized how much he’d gotten used to seeing Dex during the day. Until he didn’t see him at all. 

It was stupid to be unchill about it. They’d only been back on campus for a few weeks. It’s not like it was a tradition or a requirement. Just because they shared a room didn’t mean Dex had to spend time with him outside of it and practice. But it made him feel like maybe Dex wanted to spend time with him. Maybe Dex wasn’t just sharing the room with him because of the way a quarter landed. Maybe Dex really did like being friends with him.

Which was a problem, because Nursey couldn’t help feeling it would be really chill to add “boy” to the start of that word.

What was more of a problem was the fact he’d been feeling that way for awhile and Dex hadn’t seemed receptive when he tried to flirt. 

But it was fine. It was fine. It was chill. They were bros. They were roommates. _Oh my god, they were roommates._

So, it was even weirder when he got back to the Haus and Dex wasn’t in their room. His stuff wasn’t there either. And he didn’t show up for dinner, even though he _always_ showed up for dinner, usually because he helped cook, if they didn’t order delivery 

“Has anyone seen Dex today? He’s been on the DL or something.” He floated the question at the end of dinner, smooth and chill. 

Everyone shook their heads. 

“Not since morning practice.”

“Did he have a date?” Tango looked thoughtful, completely ignorant of the fact he’d just stabbed Nursey in the heart.

“Pssh. Poindexter doesn’t date.” He’d know, right? He’d know if Dex had a date. Probably. Maybe. They were friends, Dex would have told him.

“Hmm. Well, far be it from me to stop you boys from dating. But a heads up when you’re not going to be at dinner would be nice.” 

They all mumbled agreement to avoid a fine, then Ollie took the last slice of pepperoni and split it with Wicky. 

Nursey was considering if he wanted another slice or if he was just trying to shove down the idea of Dex on a date, when his phone chirped.

“Oh, chill. It’s my dad.”

“Mr. Nurse? Well, of course, you need to take that, hon.”

Nursey blinked. He didn’t really want to talk to his dad. “I was going to help with clean up.”

“Nonsense. It’s your father. Go on.”

Lifting a shoulder in a shrug, he got up and headed towards his room. He had to answer the call on the way or it would have gone to voicemail anyway. Oddly, it was a facetime call.

“Hello, sir.”

“Derek? Where are you? Is that the condemned frat house you seem to think counts as suitable living conditions? Or have you actually been kidnapped and they’re keeping you in a crack den? Or have you just finally decided to completely destroy my legacy and become an actual crackhead? I’d suggest a crack dealer, but you’ve shown no inclination towards entrepreneurship.”

There were reasons Nursey preferred not to talk to his dad, and his dad had just managed to hit nearly all of them in ten seconds. He stifled a sigh. “I’m at the Haus. It’s not that bad. Poindexter has been repairing things. It’s like one of those Flipper shows.”

The image of his father frowned at him. “I thought Poindexter was the name of your roommate. Is he related to this contractor?”

It was definitely time to change the topic. “Did you need something? I know you’re busy.”

“Like I said. I was checking to make sure you hadn’t been kidnapped. You are apparently still safe, for some values of that word. I’ll instruct Isobel to destroy the fraudulent note.”

“Wait. Kidnapped? Note? Did you receive a ransom note for me?”

His dad gave him a patronizing look. “Yes. And clearly it was fraudulent as you are well.”

“But what if someone else was kidnapped and they just think it’s me?”

“Then that sounds like a problem for that boy’s parents.”

Nursey froze as he turned and saw Dex’s empty desk. “At least turn the note over to the police, right?”

There was no answer and when he looked down, his phone was dark and the call had ended.

By the time Nursey got back to the first floor, everyone was gone except Tango who was rearranging things in the fridge to fit leftovers.

“Hey, Tango. When you suggested Dex might be on a date, was that because he told you he had a date?”

“Huh? I don’t think so? I just figured, he’s an attractive guy, unless he was holding out for someone in particular, he could probably get a date if he wanted.”

“Chill. Yeah. I think Dex has been kidnapped.” His voice sounded a lot calmer than he felt, which wasn’t difficult because he was freaking out, just a little bit. Or maybe a lot.

“Did you call the police?”

“Ch’yeah. I should do that. I’ll, I’ll call them.” 

If someone had told him when the day started that he’d end up taking suggestions from Tango about how to function as a responsible adult, he’d probably have laughed. Which, in retrospect, wouldn’t have been fair to Tango.

Unfortunately, Tango’s suggestion didn’t end up being very useful.

“Chill, I can’t report my roommate missing until he’s been gone 48 hours. Apparently, since he’s over 18, suddenly he must have developed an irresponsible and impetuous streak and decided to go to P-Town without telling anyone. Because why would the cops actually listen to the people who know him?” He heaved a sigh and unlocked his phone again to start texting.

“What are you doing?”

“Texting Isobel. My dad’s assistant. She’s not a complete idiot, maybe I can talk her into turning the note over to the police instead of destroying it like he wants.”

His phone chirped.

“She already destroyed it on dad’s request. Dammit, Isobel, I believed in you.”

His phone chirped again. 

“Oh, chill. She did take a picture of it first. She sent it to me.”

“Undammit, Isobel.”

Nursey nodded at Tango’s sentiment. “Ok. The police won’t help me. All I have is a photo of the ransom note. I’m on my own.” 

He refused to be overwhelmed. He could do it. He could save Dex. “If Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can believe super fake evidence of fairies and still write Sherlock Holmes, I can figure out how to find and rescue Dex.”

“Oh! I’ve got something back at my dorm that might help.”

Nursey wasn’t sure what Tango could mean, but he also didn’t have any better ideas just yet, so he decided to go check it out. Whatever he had been expecting was not what he found in Tango’s dorm. He didn’t want to be rude but….

“Chill. What is it?” 

What it looked like was the guts of about three computers wired to a Barbie Dreamhouse and a half wilted bouquet of flowers.

“I’m not entirely sure. I think it will help us analyze the picture of the ransom note though.” Tango paused. “It might take a bit more work. I haven’t gotten it to function yet. I think the problem is the mums.”

“The mums?”

“Yeah, I’ve tried button mums and cushion mums, but I might have to go up to Fuji mums.”

“Oh, ok. That makes sense.” The scary part was, it almost kind of did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For what it's worth, this part was in my outline as "Mr Nurse is a cold mf."


	3. Chapter 3

Dex was pretty sure he’d figured out where all the cameras were in the room. Most were hidden, and he tried to not let on that he’d found most of those. Of course, he couldn’t be sure how well he did at that. He was a college student, not a spy. Then again, these were kidnappers, not casino security. Or maybe they were. 

Then again again, maybe Ocean’s Eleven lied about what casino security could do. 

He groaned and fell back onto the (extremely comfortable) bed. He’d been spending too much time with Nursey and it was making him think in tangents instead of focusing on the issue at hand. 

The issue at hand. He was kidnapped and trapped in a gilded cage, and he had to figure out a way to get himself un-kidnapped before the kidnappers realized they had the wrong guy. Or the racist dumbasses would wise up to the fact that Mr. Nurse’s son wasn’t white and might actually get the real Nursey. 

And, oh yeah, they might kill Dex, too.

That was it. That was as far as he had gotten. That was his entire plan. Get un-kidnapped, keep the kidnappers thinking he was Nursey for as long as possible so he had more time to get un-kidnapped. Technically, that was two plans. 

The good news was, the fact that he was there at all meant that these guys didn’t know anything about Nursey, which meant he just had to be believable as a billionaire’s son, not Nursey specifically. 

Well, he had spent two years at Samwell surrounded by rich kids of rich parents. Surely he could pretend to be one for however long it took him to figure out an escape plan.

* * *

Nursey didn’t want to stop working on finding Dex, but it wasn’t fair for him to force Tango to stay up all night. There was practice the next day, and classes. But it was Friday and they didn’t have games that weekend, so it was going to be fine. They just needed to get through one day. 

The kidnappers would have given his dad more than one day, right?

He shook his head and pulled out his phone as he walked back toward the Haus. He had a picture of the ransom note. He knew how long they had. Until Monday at five.

It made sense, he guessed. Two business days for the wire transfer to go through, just in case money needed to be moved around first. He didn’t want to tell these kidnappers how to do their job, especially since their job seemed to be kidnapping him, but they obviously weren’t the best at it. First, they’d completely failed to get the right target. Second, a domestic wire transfer should be completed in minutes, not days, and an international wire transfer wouldn’t be guaranteed to complete in two business days. 

It just seemed like it would have made more sense to try to kidnap him on maybe a Monday or Tuesday. That would give the least amount of days for law enforcement to get involved. He paused as he remembered how the police had insisted that Dex probably decided to go on an early weekend bender without telling anyone. Maybe they did know what they were doing.

He didn’t sleep well alone in their room. He didn’t sleep at all, really. He just lay in the darkness, thinking about Dex. Surely the kidnappers wouldn’t hurt him. At least not until they failed to get their ransom.

As soon as the sky outside the window started to lighten with dawn, he got up and messaged the coaches that he and Dex would miss practice due to a stomach virus. The good news was that both he and Dex had gotten into the habit of not signing up for classes that met on Fridays, even early on Fridays, so that they didn’t have to worry about interfering with leave time for roadies. Which meant he was free to work on finding a way to get Dex home. 

He still wasn’t completely sure how to do that, and Tango would still be busy with practice and classes. But he could do something. He couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. 

He texted Tango to let him know that he’d told the coaches that he and Dex were sick and that he was going to go hunt for supplies in case Tango had any requests. It was still early, but some stores had to be open. He’d find them. 

He hesitated holding Dex’s roadie jacket. It was chilly out, especially this early in the day. He should wear a jacket. He wanted to wear Dex’s jacket. He shouldn’t. Wearing his crush’s jacket without permission was probably some kind of violation. 

The day before didn’t count because it wasn’t on purpose. 

In the end, he wore it. It still smelled like Dex. Maybe that’s why he ended up at a hardware store, buying a bunch of tools and parts that he wasn’t completely sure he recognized. Or why he looked up a computer parts store he’d never even heard of before and loaded up another cart of parts. Some of them were from Tango’s list that he received. He was certain because he asked for help and then threw in a few other things that looked useful. 

And maybe that’s why when he got to the florist he bought a much larger bouquet than Tango’s list of flowers required. 

He wasn’t going to give any of the items to Dex, so Dex couldn’t get upset about the expense. But it still felt a little like buying them for Dex. Well, he was buying them for Dex, to get Dex back home. Somehow.

He texted Tango to meet his uber when he headed back to campus. He probably could have carried all the stuff he bought, but since some of it was fragile, it seemed like a good idea to have help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The good news is that I have the next chapter written as well because I accidentally wrote all of what I planned for Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 at once and it was much longer than my previous chapters, because they are kinda shorty, so. Yeah. you won't have to wait 4 months for another update, but no promises after that because school is about to start again and also I have two Fandom Trumps Hate fics to finish, and my brain is still just deciding on it's own what words to give me.


	4. Chapter 4

Dex finished eating the food from the tray that had been slid through the slot in the door. They’d been feeding him regularly and well and there was no reason to expect that to change as long as they thought he was Nursey. But he had a plan. He had thought of it while doing push ups (he was missing conditioning, so he needed to do something). Putting the plan into action was nerve wracking, but not doing anything was worse. He wasn’t really keen on the idea of dying.

So, he finished his tray of food, stood up, walked toward the door. And tripped. Everything on the tray clattered away as it hit the ground, and he allowed himself to hit the ground, too. He braced himself a bit, his palms skidding over the rug as they slid out from under him. And in the confusion, he pushed the fork from his tray under the trailing edge of the blanket from the bed. 

The slot on the door opened as he picked himself up.

“Are you ok, Mr. Nurse?”

Dex looked up with an embarrassed grin and started dumping items back onto the tray. “Ch’yeah. You know how it is. Grace on the ice, two left feet on the ground. Just a sec.” 

He made a show of looking around to make sure he hadn’t missed anything and then took the tray piled with stuff, including bits of lint from the rug, to the door and passed it through.

“That was a delicious meal, Jared. Make sure to give Shirley my compliments.”

“Shirley?” The guard raised an eyebrow at him.

“I figured since you refused to tell me your name and _forced_ me to come up with one for you, that you wouldn’t tell me the chef’s name either. So I’ve filled that in as well.” 

“You’re an odd one, Mr. Nurse.” 

Dex groaned. “I told you. Call me Nursey. Mr Nurse is my father.”

The guard stared at him for a few long seconds. “Lights out is in two hours, Mr….” He paused before finishing the statement. “Nursey.”

The slot slid closed and Dex heard it lock into place but his smile was real as he walked back over to the chair. He’d known the “friendly to the staff” angle might have been risky, but it looked like it might be working. It was better if the guard didn’t hate him, and acting like a hyper-privileged asshole like most of the rich kids he knew wasn’t going to help him survive.

He could do this. He could survive this.

* * *

The tools that Tango was using to connect the computer parts together were smaller than any Nursey had seen Dex using on appliances. It made sense. A circuit board couldn’t really have giant bolts on it. At least not modern ones. Probably. He’d only seen Dex work on a computer a couple of times. It was far more likely that his tool box came out for the oven or the fridge or the dryer. Still, it was comforting to realize that he recognized the tools that Tango was using, even if they were smaller than the ones he normally watched in Dex’s hands. Screwdrivers, pliers, a soldering iron. 

Much like with Dex’s tools, Nursey wasn’t using any of them himself. He was on flower duty. 

The first thing he did was throw out the old bouquet. Old flowers weren’t going to help with Dex, he was sure of that. The second thing he did was stare at the new vase full of flowers. He didn’t know anything about floral design. He’d told the florist what he wanted to spend and that he needed a large bouquet. He’d said it had to include the flowers that Tango had sent on the list and especially the ones he’d mentioned the night before, the big white Fuji mums. After that, they’d just asked him questions about who it was for. 

He’d tried to describe Dex. How he was Nursey’s best friend and in danger. How Nursey just wanted him back safely. How Nursey just wanted him back.

The florist had given him a look, but Nursey had refused to admit his crush. That wasn’t important. Trying to figure out how to find and rescue Dex had nothing to do with his crush. It had almost nothing to do with his crush. 

He just wanted his friend safe. 

Dex would do the same.

Regardless, even though Nursey couldn’t identify most of the flowers in the vase, he still recognized carnations and roses and ivy and a few other things that he remembered from his Victorian Literature class as having romantic meanings in flower language. Then again, they were also just popular flowers and greenery so maybe it’s just what the florist had. 

He moved one of the roses to be more prominent. 

“Ok! Are the flowers ready? I think this part is.” 

Nursery looked over at Tango to see a monitor and keyboard attached to the rest of...whatever kind of computer Tango had been building. He was pretty sure that most computers didn’t have that many boards attached, or draped out of the case and around the room and through a Barbie Dreamhouse. It had already looked like enough for three when they’d started, but now it was just almost a full circle. 

“Ch’yeah.” Nursey aligned the vase carefully and then stepped over near Tango. “Is this going to work?

“I think so?” Tango started typing. 

“You think so?”

“Pretty sure.”

“What do you mean, pretty sure?”

Tango paused and glanced at him. “The only way to be completely sure before trying it is if Dex set it up. But Dex isn’t here or we wouldn’t need it right now anyway.”

He blinked at the back of Tango’s head when Tango turned back to the screen. “Ok, but like, you took higher level classes ahead of schedule and said they were mad easy. I remember that. Dex was super confused about how you got into the class and you said it was on accident.”

Tango snorted. “You really think I don’t know how I bypassed prerequisites? Did you know that I went to a private prep school that focused on STEM fields, particularly tech?”

Nursey hadn’t known that. He wasn’t really sure how that explained Tango’s previous statements. If anything, it indicated that Tango should be more sure of what he’d made. 

“Did you know that Dex’s public school has teachers who had to crowdfund tables for their classrooms because they didn’t have usable tables?”

He opened his mouth to interject that this wasn’t indicating that Dex was better suited to build a, well, whatever this machine was.

“Did you know that I ask a lot of questions?”

“Yes.” Nursey finally managed to answer before Tango continued.

“Did you know that Dex doesn’t ask any questions? No really. I sat in on a different section a few times and it was Dex’s and he doesn’t ask for clarification on _anything_. He doesn’t go to office hours. He goes to scheduled review sessions, but never asks for any help that’s not first offered and then only if it’s offered to everyone.” 

And, chill, yeah, ok. That did sound like Dex. Dex didn’t like asking for help, even though he helped others all the time. He barely seemed to like accepting things that were available, and then only when he was sure it wasn’t just for him. 

“Did you know that Dex consistently kills the curve? A lot of people in my classes low key hate him for that.”

“Chill. I get it. Dex is super smart and wonderful.” Nursey didn’t mean to sound annoyed, but somehow hearing Dex’s virtues being extolled by someone else was kind of grating. “Is there anything he can’t do?”

“You think he’s super smart and wonderful? I wonder if he knows that. I just thought he worked really hard and refused to give up before things were perfect. But I guess it makes sense? He talks about you the same way.” Tango paused. “And I guess what he can’t do is ask the questions he wants to ask. You have that in common, too.” 

Tango looked up and stared at Nursey. And continued to stare at him. 

Finally, Nursey crossed his arms and turned away from Tango’s gaze to look at the screen. “Is it ready to find him?”

“Yeah. I’ve loaded the photo and information about Dex and you and what we want into the program. But, intention is a big part of it, so you need to think about what we are trying to accomplish? What you want?” 

“Chill. Ok.” 

Tango nodded and hit enter on the keyboard.

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Nursey thought about Dex. About how apparently he just kept working on things until they were perfect. About how he helped and gave to other people. About how he needed help. About wanting to find Dex. About wanting to be someone who could find Dex. About wanting to be someone who could ask Dex the questions that he’d been wanting to ask. 

There was a flash of light, he could tell even with his eyes closed. When he opened them, there was a swirling vortex of colors and lights in the middle of the machine thing and the air felt dry and crinkly, like an old piece of paper. 

The brightness of the vortex dimmed slightly, and Nursey could make out what looked like the silhouette of a person amongst the swirling colors. 

Then he heard a footstep.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm available on tumbls at [SexyDexyNurse](https://sexydexynurse.tumblr.com/) if you want to talk to me about this fic there. Or leave a comment below, I like replying.


End file.
